CDC advisers study safety of aluminum additive in vaccines, worrying scientists : NPR

The Trump administration is reviewing the safety of an ingredient commonly used in vaccines, an aluminum additive. After other recent changes in vaccination policyMany public health experts are concerned that the administration may now try to remove the ingredient.

“We want no aluminum in the vaccine,” President Trump recently said at a White House briefing.

For nearly a century, some important vaccines, including those protecting against diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis, and influenza, included aluminum salts, compounds containing small amounts aluminum. They are used as adjuvants to give the immune system the extra boost it needs to mount a protective response.

“Aluminum is added to some vaccines because it is a very safe, but at the same time effective stimulant of the immune system,” says the doctor. Jesse Goodmana vaccine expert at Georgetown University who used to regulate vaccines at the Food and Drug Administration. “Essentially, it stimulates your cells to make more antibodies and enhance your overall immune response.”

But Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, has questioned the safety of aluminum in vaccines for years. And a task force is currently studying “the safety of ingredients that are present in many different vaccines,” including aluminum, for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's powerful Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

One of the questions the task force is considering is: “Do either of the two different aluminum adjuvants increase the risk of asthma?” according to document statement of the group's mandate.

Most public health experts say there is no conclusive evidence that aluminum is unsafe and enough evidence that it does not pose a real problem. Actually, large Danish study recently debunked any danger.

“We don't see any evidence that aluminum causes serious illness in childhood,” says Anders Hviidprofessor of epidemiology at the Staten Serum Institute in Denmark, who led the study involving more than 1.2 million Danish children. “There is no scientific basis to exclude aluminum from childhood vaccines. There is no scientific evidence that it is dangerous.”

But some researchers welcome the move.

“I truly believe that aluminum in vaccines is inherently harmful. Period,” says Christopher Exleya longtime critic of aluminum in vaccines who recently retired from Keele University in the UK: “And so any suggestion that we're going to remove it, I think, is absolutely wonderful, not just for making America healthy again, but for making the world healthy again.”

In addition to concerns about asthma, Exley believes aluminum can also increase the risk of other health problems.including autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Hviid and others say trying to remove aluminum will pose major challenges to protecting people from serious illness. Most importantly, vaccines containing aluminum will become ineffective.

“Simply removing aluminum—effectively destroying or limiting the effectiveness of vaccines—is incredibly stupid,” the doctor says. Stanley Plotkinleading expert in the field of vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania.

Plotkin notes that people are exposed to much more aluminum in the environment than from vaccines.

And if federal regulators deem aluminum unsafe as a vaccine ingredient, vaccine makers will have to develop and test alternatives, a process that could take years. Such a move could undermine public confidence in existing vaccines.

“And what happened with measles will happen with other diseases – that is, a return to this country,” says Plotkin. “So, is this what we want? Well, obviously some people want that.”

Federal health officials have not said they will pull existing aluminum salt vaccines from the market or that they want any diseases to return.

HHS spokeswoman Emily J. Hilliard declined to answer specific questions about the safety of aluminum adjuvants or the practicality of removing them, but said in an emailed statement that “ACIP is reviewing the body of scientific evidence regarding aluminum and other possible contaminants in children's vaccines.”

And some scientists are ready to at least study the issue of removing aluminum salts.

“It’s human nature to try to make something better, right?” says the doctor. Ofer Levi, pediatrician who directs the precision vaccine program at Boston Children's Hospital. “So, given all the complex science that we'll have in 2025, there's probably room for improvement.”

But Levy stresses that any changes should only be made if they are supported by impartial and well-conducted research. Meanwhile, Levy and others say no one should be hesitant about a vaccine containing aluminum.

“The question becomes: How do we voice legitimate concerns about vaccines without throwing the baby out with the bathwater?” – says Levi.